The Young and the Hopeless
by Rurouni-agra
Summary: Joey's life before he met Yugi. Songfic to Good Charlotte's The Young and the Hopeless. (Go figure) Warnings?... inplied abuse


**_The Young & The Hopeless_****_  
 _**

Rurouni_agra:  Hey everyone.  Ever wonder about Joey's life before he met Yugi?  Well, so did I so I wrote this songfic as a guess.

Yami Kitsune:  Hn.  *sarcastically* _No?  Really?_  And here I thought you went and talked to Joey.

Rurouni Agra: I tried, but he wasn't available.

Yami Kitsune: *roles eyes* So this is another songfic to a Good Charlotte song?

Rurouni­_agra: Yup.

Yami Kitsune: Let me guess.  Your favorite. The Young and the Hopeless.

Rurouni_agra: *jumps up and down clapping her hands* You got it right, Yami.  Yay for you, Kitsune.

Yami Kitsune: The title gave it away.

Rurouni_agra:*pouts* Stupid fox.

Yami Kitsune: Hn.  That's me.

Rurouni_agra: *perks back up with alarming abruptness* Anyway.  *huge smile returns* The only warning is abuse and mild language.

Yami Kitsune: *winces at the smile*  Rurouni_agra doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh and The Young and the Hopeless belongs to Good Charlotte so she doesn't own that either.

Rurouni_agra: *smile gets even bigger*  Yami!  You did the disclaimer for me.  Yay!  Thank you!

Yami Kitsune: *gags*  By Ra! I wouldn't have if I'd known that smile could get _even wider._  Man I hope you get off this sugar high soon.  Your much more fun when you're _not_ hyper, Light.

Rurouni_agra: On with the fic! Yay!

Yami Kitsune: Hn.  Bare with me… err us.  Don't worry I'll help so there aren't fluffy bunnies all over the place and stuff.  By the way, to you Joey fans, you'll be happy to see we made him with more character, drive, will, and pride.  (Not that he doesn't normally show these traits but some put him off as a idiot.  We leave that to Kuwabara.)  And no puppy dog shit, Joey stands on his own _two_ feet.

Joey's POV (Go figure)

**_  
  
Hard days made me, hard nights shaped me  
I don't know they somehow saved me  
And I know I'm making something out of this life they called nothing_**

****

            After my mom left my dad started drinking.  It got worse and he began to beat me.  I'm not quite sure when the first time was, the years of it all kind of blend together for me.  Unable to take things at home, I often wandered the streets as a kid.  

            When I was twelve, a group of older guys surrounded me one night.  They made fun of me for the bruises that covered my body.  They asked me if I was beat up by six year olds and I got mad.  I spit at the guy's feet and told him my father beat me and if he wasn't careful I would get him.  He laughed at that but he didn't make to hit me either.  His voice softened and he motioned for his gang to back up and give us room.

            He kneeled in front of me.  He told me he came from an abusive family too.  I blinked at him, startled by his confession.  He knew how I felt, what I was going through.  I looked up at him.  I wanted to hug him but I still wasn't sure what he intended to do to me.

            He turned to his friends.  "You guys think we can take this punk?"

They all nodded.  A few smiled.  As it turns out, most of them were orphans or abused like me and living on the streets.  That night, they took me under their wings and showed me how to survive.  I never really slept on the streets unless my father locked me out.  I learned where certain gangs claimed territory, including our own.  I learned to fight and defend myself.  In a way these punks saved me.

**_  
I take what I want  
Take what I need  
They say it's wrong but it's right for me  
I won't look down  
Won't say I'm sorry  
I know that only God can judge me_**

****

I also picked up some of their bad habits of steeling and impulsive fighting.  We never stole unless we needed it.  Most of it we did in the little store at the corner steeling bread and candy and stuff.  I was caught more then once and have a record for shoplifting at the police station.  I didn't really care.  I had more then one talk about how my path was leading me to destruction but who were they to judge?  Life at home was hell and if I stayed there more then I already did, which was just enough for my dad to know I was alive and for him to beat me, it would lead to my destruction.  No one had the right to judge except others who knew what I was going through.  Never once did I apologies for what I did and I kept up with it.

I skipped classes and beat up other kids younger then me because it made me feel as if I had some power over others even though I knew, deep inside, that it was wrong and truly proved nothing.  **_  
  
And if I make it thru today will tomorrow be the same  
Am I just running in place?  
If I stumble and I fall  
Should I get up and carry on or will it all just be the same  
  
_**

I got up and nursed the bruises and cuts I'd received the night before and got dressed for school wondering why I even bothered.  I skipped most of my classes anyway and no one really expected me to be there.  On my way out I was surprised to see me dad up.  

"Worthless, brat!" he yelled at me, "Get a job!"

This was something he typically yelled about.  He took a swing at me.  He was so drunk that when I took a step back and he missed, he fell over, passed out on the sofa.  Truth was I had been searching for a job.  We were under threat of eviction because dad didn't pay the bills.

I went to school and slept through most of my classes and stole some kids lunch, leaving in the middle of the day to go job hunting.  Why did I even bother?  I could survive on the streets if I needed to.  I wasn't going anywhere with my grades and with no money anyway.

**_  
'Cause, I'm young and hopeless  
I'm lost and I know this  
I'm going nowhere fast that's what they say  
I'm troublesome, I've fallen  
I'm angry at my father  
It's me against this world and I don't care, I don't care_**

****

I sighed and looked up at the store windows searching for HELP WANTED sign.  The first said I was to young and the second knew me, I'd gotten caught shoplifting in his friend's store.  He told me that I would never get a job with my reputation.  I snickered at that.  My reputation.  Ha.  If that was all I had going for me I was hopeless.

I yawned and left the shop.  I could look again tomorrow.   It wasn't like I was going anywhere.  I wandered to the park and sat on one of the benches.  Maybe I would spend the night here.  I didn't feel like going home.  I hated my dad and I didn't really feel like getting beat today.

I sighed and glanced over at a family pushing their little girl on a swing.  That's what I wanted.  A family.  I didn't really want my dad to get better and then get back with my mom like a lot of kids would.  I wanted someone for me to care for and love.

I decided then and there, that I would get a job tomorrow and start going to school.  I was going to turn my life around.  Screw that guy earlier.  I was going to make it and no one could stop me.**_  
  
No one in this industry understands the life I lead  
When I sing about my past it's not a gimmick not an act  
These critics and these trust fund kids  
Try to tell me what punk is but when I see them on the streets  
They got nothing to say  
  
_**

The next day I went to school and for the first time in ages, paid attention to the teacher.  I think I learned more that day then I had the rest of the year put together.  I was walking to my next class when someone shoved me roughly against the wall.

"Hey, Wheeler.  I heard you slept on our turf last night.  You know you ain't allowed in that park.  Have your gang meet me tonight at that same park.  You need to be taught a lesson."

I looked him in the eye and told my "gang"  no longer existed.  It was true.  Most of the guys were in jail for attempting and armed robbery.  I hadn't been part of that.  If they weren't in jail they were under house arrest.  A few of them had even turned their lives around and were doing what I was.

"So I guess it's just you then Wheeler."

"You can meet your gang at the park," I told him, "But I ain't gonna show so you better think of something else to do."

He blinked at me, not fully comprehending my words.  It was well know amongst the gangs of Domino that you _never_ denied another gang when challenged to a fight no matter what the difference in the numbers.

"You have to show!" he yelled.  I finally recognized him as a rival gang leader, Ken.

"Screw you," I replied, "I ain't livin' that life no more.  I'm turnin' my life around, finishin' school, and getting' a job.  That means no more of you punks and your fights."

That's when he hit me.  Something cracked loudly.  "You sonofabitch.  You got a great life, why you throwin' it away?"

I smiled at him.  A great life?  True my gang had a certain dominance over the area, but that was all reputation now anyway, and since I no longer lived that life I had nothing.

"You got no pride."

I got mad at that.  I slammed my knee into his groin.  A low move, I know, but who said punks like myself played it fair?

He fell back clutching himself.  I stood over him.  "I don't have a great life.  Every rumor you've heard about me is true.  However, I do have pride."

He snorted, "Pride let's you hit me below the belt?"

"No.  But being a punk allows me to fight dirty."

"Mr. Wheeler," said the voice of the principal behind me.  "Detention.  Mopping duty for a week." 

****

I nodded "Hia, Seiko-sama," I said.

Ken looked at me like I was crazy.  He fully expected me to tell on him.  Well, I wasn't.  Maybe he would leave me alone now.

**_  
And if I make it thru today will tomorrow be the same  
Am I just running in place?  
If I stumble and I fall  
Should I get up and carry on or will it all just be the same  
  
_**

****

I had been mopping the floors all week.  It was tedious.  It was even harder to get up in the mornings knowing that I couldn't use today to search for a job.  Every day was a test and I only barley managed to pass each with my sanity intact.

My dream to turn my life around still burned within me.

**_  
'Cause, I'm young and hopeless  
I'm lost and I know this  
I'm going nowhere fast that's what they say  
I'm troublesome, I've fallen  
I'm angry at my father  
It's me against this world and I don't care,_**

**_I don't care, I don't care, now I don't care  
  
_**

**_I'm young and hopeless  
I'm lost and I know this  
I'm going nowhere fast that's what they say  
That I'm troublesome, I've fallen  
I'm angry at my father  
It's me against this world and I don't care, I don't care  
I don't care  
I don't care_**

****

            When that long week finally ended, I slept at home for the first time since I decided to turn my life around.  I walked in the door and ducked as a beer bottle was thrown at my head.  It shattered against the doorframe.

            I rolled my eyes at my father.  He was mad, I knew that.  I'd been gone for over a week and I still didn't have a job.  He really wouldn't care that I was passing my classes now.

"Where the HELL have you been?"

"At school, then I went looking for a job.  Might get the one at the movie store."

"You expect me to believe you've been job hunting for a whole week?"

"Why would you?  That was just today.  I never said anything about earlier this week."  I knew I was being cheeky but I didn't care.  I was getting a job and moving out ASAP.  I didn't care what he did anymore.

"Ha!  You couldn't get a job.  You're too stupid."  I rolled my eyes again refusing to get angry.  I might hate my father more then hell itself but surrendering to his provocation was no good.  He flew at me in a flurry of fist.  Using the instincts from my time on the street, I defended myself.  My dad stopped for a second.  I never bothered to defend myself from him.  Usually I just let him hit me.  After all the gang fights I'd been trough, he was nothing.  But I didn't feel like taking it any more.  When he paused, I turned and walked to my room, leaving him to stare after me.

 I didn't feel like telling him the movie store was a second job and that I was already working at a restaurant.  They didn't pay much, but it was better then nothing.  I might not know what I want to do with my life except turn it around, but as long as I got out of this house I would be fine.  

To others like Ken it might look like I was throwing everything away and to people like my father it might look like I'm lost and I set an impossible goal, but I could do it.  And I would do it.  Even if it killed me.  I don't care what others think.  I was going to make it no matter what.

Yami Kitsune: How'd you like it.  *Sigh* Light fell asleep while writing it a few times but I'm glad to say she is off the sugar high.

Rurouni_agra: Sorry about that you guys.  Sugar makes me crazy.

Yami Kitsune: No shit.

Rurouni_agra: Shut up, fox.

Yami Kitsune: Hn

Rurouni_agra: Kitsune's just jealous because I wrote such a great fic!

Yami Kitsune: Jealous wouldn't be the word considering I wrote half of it.

Rurouni_agra: *mumbles* Uppity kitsune.  *Back to normal*  Anyway.  Review for us.

Yami Kitsune: Hn. Do.  Ja ne. 


End file.
